Snapshots of Love
by Stelra Etnae
Summary: Three scents, three moments, and a love that grows through time. This is their story. (Written for the HPFC Random Amortentia Competition)


_**Written for Coding Gengar's Random Amortentia Competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum. The goal was to write a set of three drabbles (150-450 words) for a single pairing around three given scent prompts.**_

 _ **Pairing: Remus/Tonks**_

 _ **Prompts (drabble word count): forest (420), gunpowder (444), tulip (423)**_

* * *

 **Forest**

Remus' heart felt like it was stuck in his throat as he ran through the forest, senses all on edge. Further off, he could faintly hear the voices of Ted and Andromeda calling out, pitch heightened in their panic. Sirius, James and Peter were further away, all of them spread out in search of five-year-old Dora who had wandered off alone into the forest behind their rented vacation cabin.

The sun was setting in the horizon, casting the shadows across their surroundings. In the shaded greenery of the forest it had already turned much darker than it was out in the plains. They were thankfully far from the full moon, the rising moon dim and waning in the sky, but werewolves weren't the only danger present in the forest at night.

Remus' nostrils flared as he desperately sought out a human scent in the crisp dewy air of the forest. For once he was thankful for the heightened senses his lycanthropy gave him; his sense of smell, sight and hearing were all much sharper than a regular person's even in human form, and that provided him an advantage in this endless forest. A change in the wind suddenly brought the scent of bubblegum to him and he honed onto it immediately, shifting directions to follow its direction. Soon his ears picked up on the quiet sound of crying, and his heart relaxed and constricted all in one.

He found Dora crouched into a tiny ball at the foot of a tree. Dark eyes turned up at the sound of his approach, puffy and glossed with tears. He almost tipped over with the force that she tackled him with. Small hands curled into his shirt, tears wetting the fabric as she buried her face onto his chest. His arms cradled her small form instinctively, holding that shivering body close to his as if to shield her from the darkness.

But bitter irony rose in him as well. A cursed, self-hating part of him whispered, aren't you the most dangerous one here, a rabid wolf in human skin? One of the monsters in the night that she should be protected from?

He signalled to the others that Dora had been found, restoring the girl to her parents to be hugged and scolded. But the uncertainty lingered, and a lump rose in his throat when Dora slipped her hand in his on their walk back, fingers curled around his so trustingly.

He wondered if he had the strength to shield her from himself.

* * *

 **Gunpowder**

The young Auror who'd come into Headquarters after Mad-Eye smelt faintly of gunpowder, not dissimilar from Moody's own wood smoke and Kingsley's tobacco. It was a scent that came with the job, of sharpened senses and the wariness of danger. It was a scent that Remus generally preferred to avoid, for it never spelled good for him.

But there was something about the witch's vibrant pink hair, so different from that earthy gunpowder scent, that stirred up an old memory in Remus' mind; one of kinder and happier times. It nagged at the corner of his mind, working its way past the haze of years gone by…

And finally did so in the shape of a witch who tripped and barrelled head-first into Remus, nose crashing onto his chest with what had to be a painful impact. His arms reached automatically to catch her before she fell further. Close as she was now, he could finally smell past the gunpowder to where the familiar scent of sweet bubblegum lingered underneath.

The epiphany seemed to strike her the same time as it did him, for her curious upturned look turned suddenly into a delighted smile.

"Remus, it really is you! I thought you looked familiar!"

Never having been able to resist that bubbly girl, his lips curved into a small but genuine responding smile. "Nymphadora."

She scrunched up her nose at that, very much like how she had as a child whenever Andromeda had tried to feed the girl her broccoli. "I go by Tonks nowadays," she told him firmly.

"Not even Dora?" he couldn't help but tease lightly as he set her back on her feet, recalling the childhood nickname they had called her by. But while she had once barely reached his hip, she now stood up to his shoulder, and it reminded him of how much time had passed since those carefree days. Dora Tonks was no longer a child but a fully-grown witch – and a very lovely one, which Remus became very aware of when the witch gave him a mischievous grin that was entirely too charming for his sanity.

"I suppose I could make an exception for _you_."

Oh Merlin she was beautiful. She threw a wink back at him as she sashayed across the room, confident and fluid in her movements.

Until she tripped again, over a chair leg right onto the floor.

Remus chuckled, shaking his head as he stepped forward to help her up.

Smoky gunpowder may have gotten mixed in with innocent bubblegum, but there were certain things that would never change.

And perhaps, if he dared to admit it, change could be good as well.

* * *

 **Tulip**

Little Teddy Lupin was born in April, when the tulips in Andromeda's garden blossomed to their full splendour in reds and pinks and whites and yellows. Andromeda particularly favoured cultivating the scented varieties, some of them magically enhanced, and their heady sweetness wafted in with the breeze even through the second floor window.

Dora was lying on her side with Teddy on the bed, switching her hair through a variety of bright colours to amuse the child. The baby gurgled, his own hair flickering in an attempt to match the changes but more often than not endearingly falling short. Remus watched them, wondering what he had done in his life to deserve such a beautiful family.

Sensing his regard, Dora looked up and gave him a loving smile over Teddy's head. Eyes twinkling, she whispered to their son, "Look over there, Teddy, it's Daddy! How about giving Daddy a big happy smile?"

Teddy, barely a week old, was still unable to turn his head on his own and could hardly do anything of that sort, but he squealed happily when Remus leaned over him to nuzzle lightly against his stomach, hair turning to the bright turquoise they were beginning to associate with him being happy.

Remus remembered a child with a tulip crown in her pink hair, dancing through the meadows like the nymph she was named for in days long past. He wanted so much to share the beauty of that world with his son, one full of vibrant colour and without war.

Dora's slim fingers reached out to tangle in his, tugging him so that he lay down on Teddy's other side, their bodies bracketing his. They shared a sweet, chaste kiss over Teddy's head, the baby cooing his delight as he raised his tiny arms up to them. Dora pressed a soft kiss to Teddy's temple.

"I love you," he whispered to his wife and son, voice cracking faintly with the emotions that overwhelmed him at that moment.

Dora's eyes were warm as they met his, brimming with tenderness. "I love you too."

The scent of tulips on the wind signalled the arrival of spring and the blossoming of hope in these dark times. And even if by some cruel fate they don't get the chance to watch their son growing up, they could only pray that their one wish could be fulfilled.

To give Teddy a world where he could live happily and without fear, surrounded with love and beauty and the gentle scent of flowers on the wind.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Reviews are very much appreciated!**_


End file.
